Compositions for controlling insects such as cockroaches are known in the art. Generally, the compositions contain at least one substance toxic to the insects, and additionally some type of food attractant. Most toxic substances, also known as toxicants, are based on chemicals which are either capable of instant and/or delayed killing action. The food attractants used include various sweetening agents, together with the toxicant. The prior art describes insecticide bait compositions containing a very general array of sugars and sweeteners as food attractants for cockroach control, without regard to diversity of feeding preferences by field cockroach strains.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,071 relates to an insecticide natural bait composition which includes, in a broad sense, sugar or sugar substitute. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,103 relates to an insecticide bait composition for the control of cockroaches in which the food attractant system comprises various ingredients, including a mixture of liquid food, for example, molasses, corn syrup, maple syrup, or honey.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,710 relates to a stable aerosol foam insecticide bait composition which includes a food attractant to facilitate consumption by the crawling insects, sugars or a sugar composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,413 relates to poison bait for control of insects, particularly cockroaches, wherein the bait contains a saccharide as a component in an amount of 10-40% by weight based on the total weight of the composition. Examples of saccharide in the '413 patent are sucrose, glucose, d-fructose, lactose, black sugar, brown sugar, and soft brown sugar. Among the preferred sugars mentioned in the '413 patent are black sugar, brown sugar and soft brown sugar. The content of the saccharide is normally preferred between 10-40% by weight.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,955, we previously detailed the unexpected superior results of insecticidal bait compositions having a high ratio of fructose to glucose, without regard to the toxic substance within the compositions. Despite the fact that glucose is considered the universal metabolic fuel and one of the most common substances used to attract insects to toxicants, we found that glucose actually repels certain strains of cockroaches.